The Kaleido Company have certainly been upping the ante for circus and cabaret at Perth Fringe World. If you are yet to experience one of the ‘Mixtape’ series, the Kaleido crew bring skill, fun, amazing music, brawn and laughs to their performances, while the audience is fully invested and tapping their feet in every moment of the show.
The 2023 offering, 80s Mixtape did not disappoint. The 80’s soundtrack didn’t just include your cliche bangers, but more songs with meaning which was appreciated for this girl who was born in the 80’s. From the very start when you step into the 80s revival, the energy is high.
The MC capabilities of Andrew Silverwood are exceptional. His crowd work keeping everyone engaged and laughing while props and stages were set was effortless. His rendition of a classic Billy Idol song truly stole the show for me- Who knew the man could sing! His costume changes are also so on point and moved the storyline along with the music. Silverwood even Rick Rolls you, and you’ll never see it coming.
The absolute crowd favourite however was the strong man of the crew, James Mons. This one person not only held the cast up both literally and figuratively, he was also the human cantilever, the very funny comic relief (outside of Silverwood) and truly was someone the entire audience warmed too. Brava!
Without giving away the finale, this was an ending that had an absolute cracker of a song, an outfit that upped the heat by 500% and the added difficulty led us to the highway to the danger zone. I was completely immersed in the entire act by Sarah Green- definitely one of the top solo circus acts I have seen.
Make sure you wake up before they go-go, you won’t want to miss it when 80s Mixtape hit their high.
4 STARS
80s Mixtape Cabaret
Who: 15+
Where: Big Top at The Pleasure Garden
When: 24th January to 2nd Feb with Mondays off